Download or read book Hits and Misses in the Baseball Draft written by Alan Maimon and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-02-07 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If unpredictability is so much of what makes sports compelling, the baseball draft might be the best place to look. This book explores the intricate uncertainties of the draft and the people who face it. Since the modern draft began in 1965, major league teams have attempted, with varying degrees of success, to identify and develop stars of the future. Whether because of injury, poor performance or mental and physical struggles, a large percentage of the most ballyhooed prospects never reach the game's highest level. Though teams have improved in recent years at turning top picks into major leaguers, the baseball draft is still centered on educated guesswork. This book explains why.
Download or read book Baseball America s Ultimate Draft Book written by Allan Simpson and published by Baseball America. This book was released on 2016-10-11 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Baseball America invented coverage of the baseball draft. So who better than Baseball America to chronicle 50 years of draft history? As the baseball draft grows in prominence and more and more fans connect winning on draft day to winning in the major leagues, the BA draft book takes you through 50 years of great draft stories and the biggest hits and misses in draft history. The Baseball America 50th Anniversary Draft Book combines all the information of a great reference title with all the great stories that make draft history so rich. For every year of the draft, from 1965-2015, you'll get a complete team by team draft list, with who signed and who didn't, who reached the big leagues and who washed out. And the draft lists are more than just lists; they also feature interesting tidbits on people who became prominent baseball or in other sports or other careers altogether. You'll get the story of the most prominent storylines and people for every year of the draft, as well as plenty of charts and photos to take you in-depth on every year. This book will feature lots of information that has never been publicly available before, especially with signing bonuses from the early days of the draft. It goes without saying that anyone who has an interest in the baseball draft will have to have this book, but anyone who loves good stories (longshots that became major league stars, touted phenoms who washed out) will find fun on every page of this book.
Download or read book Total Baseball written by and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 2524 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book 2017 Toronto Blue Jays Minor League Handbook written by Jay Blue and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on with total page 504 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Feeling a Draft written by Frederick J. Day and published by . This book was released on 2021-11-18 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Feeling A Draft takes a comprehensive look at the origins of Major League Baseball's amateur player draft and the many twists and turns the draft has taken since it was instituted in 1965. The book delves into the mysteries of why some "can't miss" prospects fail to make an impact while other unheralded players carve out a place in the pantheon of baseball stars. In telling the story of the amateur player draft, Feeling A Draft presents the heretofore untold stories of the many baseball scouts who have scoured the country in search of those special athletes capable of achieving success at the Major League level.
Download or read book The Inside Game written by Keith Law and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2020-04-21 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this groundbreaking book, Keith Law, baseball writer for The Athletic and author of the acclaimed Smart Baseball, offers an era-spanning dissection of some of the best and worst decisions in modern baseball, explaining what motivated them, what can be learned from them, and how their legacy has shaped the game. For years, Daniel Kahneman’s iconic work of behavioral science Thinking Fast and Slow has been required reading in front offices across Major League Baseball. In this smart, incisive, and eye-opening book, Keith Law applies Kahneman’s ideas about decision making to the game itself. Baseball is a sport of decisions. Some are so small and routine they become the building blocks of the game itself—what pitch to throw or when to swing away. Others are so huge they dictate the future of franchises—when to make a strategic trade for a chance to win now, or when to offer a millions and a multi-year contract for a twenty-eight-year-old star. These decisions have long shaped the behavior of players, managers, and entire franchises. But as those choices have become more complex and data-driven, knowing what’s behind them has become key to understanding the sport. This fascinating, revelatory work explores as never before the essential question: What were they thinking? Combining behavioral science and interviews with executives, managers, and players, Keith Law analyzes baseball’s biggest decision making successes and failures, looking at how gambles and calculated risks of all sizes and scales have shaped the sport, and how the game’s ongoing data revolution is rewriting decades of accepted decision making. In the process, he explores questions that have long been debated, from whether throwing harder really increases a player’s risk of serious injury to whether teams actually “overvalue” trade prospects. Bringing his analytical and combative style to some of baseball’s longest running debates, Law deepens our knowledge of the sport in this entertaining work that is both fun and deeply informative.
Download or read book American Sports 4 volumes written by Murry R. Nelson and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2013-05-23 with total page 1678 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: America loves sports. This book examines and details the proof of this fascination seen throughout American society—in our literature, film, and music; our clothing and food; and the iconography of the nation. This momentous four-volume work examines and details the cultural aspects of sport and how sport pervasively reflects—and affects—myriad aspects of American society from the early 1900s to the present day. Written in a straightforward, readable manner, the entries cover both historical and contemporary aspects of sport and American culture. Unlike purely historical encyclopedias on sports, the contributions within these volumes cover related subject matter such as poetry, novels, music, films, plays, television shows, art and artists, mythologies, artifacts, and people. While this encyclopedia set is ideal for general readers who need information on the diverse aspects of sport in American culture for research purposes or are merely reading for enjoyment, the detailed nature of the entries will also prove useful as an initial source for scholars of sport and American culture. Each entry provides a number of both print and online resources for further investigation of the topic.
Download or read book Baseball Players of the 1950s written by Rich Marazzi and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-06-08 with total page 457 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The playing and post-playing careers of all 1,560 players who appeared in a major league box score between 1950 and 1959--the "golden age," many say--are profiled in this exhaustive work. From Aaron to Zuverink: this treasure-trove of anecdotes, many gathered from personal interviews, is full of historical facts, controversy, and trivia. Readers will be reminded, that Milwaukee Braves pitcher Humberto Robinson was asked by a gambler to fix a game against the Phillies (he refused), Joe Adcock chased Giants pitcher Ruben Gomez around the field with a bat, Bob Turley reached the top of the corporate ladder after his playing days, Casey Wise became an orthodontist, Bobby Brown became a heart surgeon and president of the AL, and that Chuck Conners became an actor. All of this and much more can be found here.
Download or read book Baseball s First year Player Draft Team by Team Through 1999 written by W. C. Madden and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2001 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In response to escalating signing bonuses and in an attempt to bring parity to the major leagues, Commissioner Ford Frick used a gavel to open the proceedings of the inaugural First-Year Player Draft in 1965. This reference book looks back at the first 35 years of the draft, and includes data on every player selected through 1999 who made the majors. The author analyzes each big-league club's big-name picks, sleeper surprises, best and worst draft crops, and biggest busts, and current bonus babies. The analyses are supported by pertinent quotes from the players themselves, and a look at the future of the draft is offered. The book is richly illustrated with over 100 player photographs.
Download or read book Texas Sports written by Chad S. Conine and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2017-09-20 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When it comes to sports, Texas more than earns its bragging rights. The Lone Star State has produced championship teams and legendary athletes not only in football, baseball, and basketball, but in dozens of other sports as well. Texas Sports celebrates more than a century of achievements in a day-by-day record of the people and events—both unforgettable and little-known—that have made Texas a powerhouse in the world of sports. Chad S. Conine packs a wealth of sports facts and stories into 366 days. He ranges from firsts such as UT's first football game (an 1893 win against Dallas University Football Club) to peak moments such as Earl Campbell running through defenders, Nolan Ryan throwing heat past baffled batters, and Babe Didrickson Zaharias winning the Western Open golf championship for the fourth time. Conine covers more than twenty-five sports and all levels from high school to professional, reminding us that if Texas had never seen a pigskin or a backboard, its sports legacy would still be secure. With a winning combination of victories and heartbreaks, men's and women's sports, and all regions of the state, Texas Sports is a must-read for all sports fans and trivia buffs.
Download or read book Baseball Prospectus Futures Guide 2020 written by Baseball Prospectus, and published by Baseball Prospectus. This book was released on 2020-03-05 with total page 1411 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: FUTURES GUIDE 2020 features: - Detailed reports on top 10 prospects for every major-league team. - Condensed reports on many additional key prospects for each team. - Top talents 25 years old and younger for each team. - Baseball Prospectus’ 2020 organizational rankings. - Top 101 real-life and fantasy prospects. - Top 50 players who entered pro baseball in 2020. - Essays on prospect hype cycles and what scouting grades mean.
Download or read book Top 10 Bloopers in Baseball written by Jamal Hinnant and published by Enslow Publishing, LLC. This book was released on 2015-12-15 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Young readers will delight in learning about their favorite players laugh-out-loud goofs. Full-page photos capture the bloopers, and easy prose includes fun facts and stats.
Download or read book A Baseball Gaijin written by Aaron Fischman and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2024-06-18 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Like many American boys, Tony Barnette yearned to one day make it to “The Show,” playing baseball professionally. The Arizona State pitcher was drafted in 2006 by the in-state Diamondbacks. Gradually ascending the minor-league ladder, it looked like this was the beginning of a blessed life, where he could play the game he loved on the grandest of stages in front of family and friends. But things don’t always work out the way we want. On the verge of achieving his lifelong dream after notching a league-high 14 wins in Triple A, Tony looked ahead to 2010 with optimism. That’s when Japan came calling, offering a significant salary hike in exchange for forgoing a likely forthcoming big-league debut. The Diamondbacks agreed to release Tony so he could play for Tokyo’s Yakult Swallows, the renowned Yomiuri Giants’ intra-city rivals. At the time, the only thing he had in common with the country was a love for baseball. He did not know the language and was unfamiliar with Nippon Professional Baseball and essentially everything else. On his own in a strange land, the burning desire to one day make the major leagues never subsided. He knew the odds were against him, as less than one quarter of gaijin (Japanese for “foreigner”) ballplayers who go to Japan appear in the majors at any point thereafter. First-year struggles led to multiple demotions and his end-of-year release. But when you’re chasing a dream, you expect to encounter several obstacles. Tony refused to be deterred. Over six seasons in Japan, the starter became a reliever and then a closer. After a strong 2015 season, in which he guided his long-suffering Swallows to the Japan Series, he finally got the call he had been waiting for. Signing with the Texas Rangers in December, Tony would make his first major-league appearance on April 5, 2016, at age thirty-two. He’d go on to pitch four seasons with the Rangers and Chicago Cubs, fulfilling a lifelong dream. Through extensive research and reporting, Aaron Fischman worked directly with Tony to tell his story of perseverance, determination, and never giving up on your dream.
Download or read book Character Is Not a Statistic the Legacy and Wisdom of Baseball s Godfather Scout Bill Lajoie written by Bill Lajoie and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2010-01-21 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bill Lajoie just had it. When it came to drafting ballplayers and building a World Series club, few in baseball history can match his extraordinary success. The lessons of Lajoies illustrious career and the brilliance of his philosophy are put to print in Character is Not a Statistic. After a playing career that fell achingly short of the major leagues, Lajoie returned to Detroit to become a teacher in the mid-1960s. But his unyielding passion for baseball and desire to atone for a broken dream pulled him back to the game as a scout. From there, hed go on to build World Series Championships from scratch by finding players who possessed the very character he lacked as a young athlete. Starting as an area scout for the Cincinnati Reds in 1965, Lajoie later moved up the ladder with the Detroit Tigers and was the architect and general manager of their 1984 World Series crowning. Lajoie would then be instrumental as an assistant GM for two more franchises who dominated their decades with championships and titles; the 1990s Atlanta Braves and the 2000s Boston Red Sox. Perhaps no one alive has scouted more baseball over the last 50 years or has better stories to tell about finding the greats. Though the modern era has seen the depersonalization of scouting via statistics and radar gun readings, Lajoie was immensely successful through five decades by emphasizing what a player had inside him. His belief in a players humanity and character persists to this day. This book is not only a biography, but a collection of great baseball stories and a manual for the next generation of fans and scouts alike. Lajoie tackles such controversial issues as the Moneyball movement, the importance of a strong manager, scouting for makeup, making trades, preventing pitching injuries, running a farm system, and ranking both the best general managers and scouting directors of the modern era.
Download or read book Future Value written by Eric Longenhagen and published by Triumph Books. This book was released on 2020-04-14 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An unprecedented look inside the world of baseball scouting and evaluation from two of the industry's top prospect analysts For the modern Major League team, player evaluation is a complex, multi-pronged, high-tech pursuit. But far from becoming obsolete in this environment—as Michael Lewis' Moneyball once forecast—the role of the scout in today's game has evolved and even expanded. Rather than being the antithesis of a data-driven approach, scouting now represents an essential analytical component in a team's arsenal. Future Value is a thorough dive into baseball's changing world of talent acquisition and development, a world with its own language, methods, metrics, and madness. From rural high schools to elite amateur showcases, from the back fields of spring training to major league draft rooms, Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel break down the key systems and techniques used to assess talent. It's a process that has moved beyond the quintessential stopwatches and radar guns to include statistical models, countless measurable indicators, and a broader international reach. ?Practical and probing, discussing wide-ranging topics from tool grades to front office politics, this is an illuminating exploration of how to watch baseball and see the future.
Download or read book The Last Best League 10th anniversary edition written by Jim Collins and published by Da Capo Press. This book was released on 2014-05-27 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Every summer, in ten small towns across Cape Cod, the finest college baseball players in the country gather in hopes of making it to "The Show." The hopes are justifiably high: The Cape Cod Baseball League is the best amateur league in the world, producing one out of every six major league players. Ten years ago, Jim Collins chronicled a season in the life of one team: the Chatham A's, perhaps the most celebrated team in the league. Set against the backdrop of a resort town on the bend of the outer Cape, the story charted the changing fortunes of a handful of players battling slumps and self-doubt in their effort to make the league playoffs and, more importantly, impress the major league scouts. Over the last decade, baseball's hard truths became evident for the Chatham stars who went on to play professionally, and the final chapter of their story can now be written. In a new afterword for the tenth anniversary, Collins explores questions that sports literature rarely touches: What does it mean to devote your life to an almost impossible goal and almost but not quite make it? Or make it only briefly before it slips away? What does a dream look like in retrospect? How does the game look now?
Download or read book Latino Athletes written by Ian C. Friedman and published by Infobase Publishing. This book was released on 2014-05-14 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides short biographies of more than 175 notable Hispanic American athletes.
